


Dance with Me, so We Can Forget

by ArtistOwl



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Child Soldiers, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Slow Dancing, they're like 5, why did you make child soldiers Rick?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-06
Updated: 2018-02-06
Packaged: 2019-03-14 11:25:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13589064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtistOwl/pseuds/ArtistOwl
Summary: Silena and Beckendorf comfort each other in the face of the looming Titan war.





	Dance with Me, so We Can Forget

“Beckendorf?”

Beckendorf looked up and blinked rapidly, his eyes adjusting to the sudden darkness after staring for so long at the flames and glowing hot metal. His siblings had all abandoned their workstations. The music player in the corner was several songs into Harley’s Lion King CD and Beckendorf hadn’t even noticed. The only person left in the building aside from Beckendorf was Shane, who was standing just inside the doorway. He was holding open the door, clearly about to go out, and Beckendorf could see the sky behind him painted with the soft pinks and yellows of dusk.

“Yeah Shane?”

“You coming?”

“Yeah, soon. Just let me finish this up.”

Shane’s brows knit with worry. “You sure? You haven’t taken any breaks since lunch. You even missed the campfire.”

Beckendorf looked down at the sword he was hammering. “’Kinda got a lot on my mind.”

Shane’s face fell slightly in the tired way that everyone’s did at the mention of the war, but he quickly hid it behind a smirk. “We all do man. Just don’t work yourself to the bone. If our cabin counselor passes out during Capture the Flag ‘cause he was too exhausted from overworking himself, then it’ll look bad on the cabin.”

Beckendorf grinned. “Of course. You just care about cabin rep.”

“Obviously. So, you coming?”

“Just a little bit longer. I’ll finish this, then I promise I’ll come back”

Shane hesitated for just a moment. “’Kay. Don’t let the harpies get to you.”

“Will do man.”

The door shut behind Shane with a dull thud, and for a moment, the only sounds in the forge were the dulcet tones of “I Just Can’t Wait to be King”. Then Beckendorf sighed and started hammering the sword into shape again. He didn’t even hear the door open and shut again, and wasn’t aware that there was anyone else in the forge until the clanging of his hammer was interrupted by a “Charlie?”

Beckendorf froze with his hammer in the air, then lowered it with a smile. “Hey, Silena.”

She’d tied her hair up in a messy bun sometime since lunch, Beckendorf noticed as she made her way through the forge, expertly navigating through the relative darkness like she’d done it many times before (she had). “Shane said that you were working late again.”

“That little snitch.”

“Don’t blame Shane, I asked him where you were.”

“I told him I’d come out once I finished up my project.”

“Is there anything I can help with?” Silena had made her way to his workstation and perched herself on the end of the table. “I can help it go faster.”

Beckendorf was shaking his head before Silena had even finished her offer. “Thanks ‘Lena, but right now I’m just hammering the metal into shape. Once I’m done with that, you can help me attach the blade to the guard and grip, and then clean up.”

“Is it something that you can leave for tomorrow?”

“Well-” Beckendorf cut himself off, narrowing his eyes. “If I say yes, you’ll try to convince me to leave it, won’t you?”

“Yes,” Silena said plainly. She slid off of the end of the table and walked over to hug him.

“I’m all sweaty,” Beckendorf protested halfheartedly.

“I’m changing soon for bed anyway,” she responded. “You need a hug.”

Beckendorf huffed, but set down his hammer and sword, wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and rested his chin on the top of her head, letting go of the tension he hadn’t realized was in his body. It was almost a serene moment – which were few and far between nowadays – except “Hakuna Matata” killed the mood a little bit.

Beckendorf only wished he had no worries. 

“Another camper disappeared yesterday,” he said.

Silena hummed in response. “Finishing the sword tonight won’t change that.”

“I know. But it’ll make me feel better.” Beckendorf briefly considered taking out his feelings by hitting the sword with his hammer some more. But that would mean letting go of Silena.

Silena took a step back, but only to stand on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Charlie, you’ve been doing so much good for the whole camp. You can’t keep that up if you work yourself to exhaustion.”

“Funny, everyone seems to be telling me that lately.”

“They’re right.”

“I know. I just…” He clenched his hands. He really wanted to hit that sword with a hammer now. “The more I do, the less anyone else has to. I just – I wish there wasn’t a war. I mean, Harley’s seven. He’s seven ‘Lena, and he’s going to fight in a war. He’s going to get a sword and shield and whatever other crazy machines that kid made and he’s going to go onto a battlefield to fight and kill monsters and other demigods, or else be killed by them. And I hate that.”

Silena clung to him tighter. “I know Charlie. I hate it too. We all do. Gods, I wish that this didn’t have to happen. But…”

After she was silent for a few moments, Beckendorf prompted “But what?”

“Give me a moment to come up with something suitably inspiring.”

Beckendorf laughed hollowly and pulled her closer, burying his face in her hair. The war hadn’t even officially started, but it felt like it more and more with every passing day. With every demigod that disappeared – whether they’d gone rogue, or joined the enemy, or been killed by a monster; whether anyone knew why or not – the camp seemed to lose a little more hope. The whole spy situation wasn’t helping matters. Even the spirits of the eternally optimistic, like Silena, were being dampened.

“Speaking of which…” Beckendorf thought as “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” started playing…

Beckendorf pulled away to grin down at Silena. “Dance with me?”

Silena giggled, and they both pretended not to notice the stray tear she’d wiped from her eye. “Anytime.”

It really could barely be qualified as dancing. It was more of a quasi-waltz around Beckendorf’s little workstation, with Beckendorf occasionally leading Silena in a twirl, and once, Silena leading him into one, both of them giggling way to hard and how he had to duck to make it under their connected hands. It quickly devolved from even that into simply swaying in place. But that was enough. 

All too soon, they would have to clean up Beckendorf’s workstation and turn the music player off. They would have to figure out the best route to sneak into their cabins to avoid the patrol harpies that would inevitably be out doing their rounds by then. They would have to go back to being soldiers, fighting their parents’ war that had somehow become theirs. But not right now. Right now, they were just two kids, dancing to a cheesy Disney song, enjoying each other’s presence, and ignoring the world that was slowly crumbling down around them.


End file.
